


and i know foxes mate because they're in love

by swanmills



Series: Swan Queen Week: Summer 2016 [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, this may or may not be a pokemon go au oops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-08-08 10:50:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7754797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swanmills/pseuds/swanmills
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>henry likes to go to the gym. it's not an actual gym; it’s granny’s diner and his CP 1500 snorlax kicks ass and nothing can defeat it.<br/>until it gets defeated.<br/>for day 6 of swan queen week: arguments.</p>
            </blockquote>





	and i know foxes mate because they're in love

**Author's Note:**

> i imagine henry to be about 14 in this scenario. it's also semi-au ish in a way that whoever procreated hook and robin did not have a zygote formed the night our two handsome beards were to be conceived, so disappointingly enough, they do not exist in this universe.  
> also, i have one longer fic for SQW other than this one. i originally wanted to write one a day, but i have work and school to prepare for, so i figured it was better to crank out a few fics i tried really hard on than several that i felt like i just scrapped together.

Henry's had Pokemon Go for two weeks when his mothers ask him about it. They're sitting in Granny’s Diner, and he's currently collecting pokeballs from a close by street sign the app decided was a good place to have a pokestop.

 

“What’cha doing?” Emma asked. She peered over Henry’s shoulder to see what he was doing.

 

“Collecting pokeballs,” he answered, tapping away on his screen. The stop only gave him two. Bummer.

 

Emma looked over to Regina, still confused.

 

“It's from Pokemon Go,” Regina explained. “You catch Pokemon, and battle them against other users who do the same. It's the app on your phone with the red and white ball.”

 

“Oh! So basically it's Pokemon on your phone. I was wondering what that app was and which one of you two downloaded it.”

 

“How do you not know what Pokemon Go is?” Henry wondered. “Did you not play Pokemon as a kid? Didn't you grow up in the 90’s?”

 

“Yeah,” said Emma. “but, uh. By the time it became super popular I didn't really care about a lot of stuff.”

 

Henry nodded, knowing not to ask further. Regina cupped Emma’s shoulder, rubbing her thumb against it. Emma became physically relaxed.

 

“Hey!” Henry changed the topic. “You can play it now though, right?”

 

Emma nodded, a small smile forming. “Yeah, I could.” She got out her phone and fiddled with it for a few minutes.

 

Those few minutes consist of Regina asking Henry about his day. It was pretty good, he thinks he did well on the history test, and no, he does not have a girlfriend, his mothers are the two most important women in his life.

 

“That's what I like to hear,” Regina quipped, smug, and tapped him on the nose. Henry glared at her.

 

“Done!” says Emma. “I chose the little guy with a flower on his back.”

 

“Bulbasaur,” Henry corrected.

 

“Actually, I named him Metallica.”

 

Henry sighed internally, not saying anything this time. “What's your username? So I know who you are if you take a gym.”

 

He doubted it. But Emma handed Henry her phone, and he saw her name was “sheriff_swanrocks”.

 

“Cool,” he said. “I'm ‘henrydaniel’. If you go onto the map and click the gym, the thing with the blue- yeah, that's it, you can see that _I_ own the gym.” He beamed.

 

“Your Pokemon looks like… a blue cat-bear?” Emma said. “He’s very nice.”

 

“ _Her_ name is Rosemary, and she’s a Snorlax,” Henry corrected. “She has 1500 combat power, or CP for short. I’m very proud of her. I found her in the pharmacy.”

 

“Is that why you were having a conniption in the sore throat aisle when I went to get some medicine for the cold you got almost a month ago?” asked Regina.

 

Henry blushed, his smirk forming into something more shy. “Yeah. They’re supposed to be super rare.”

 

“Do you have Pokemon Go, Regina?” Emma wondered.

 

Regina scoffed. “Why would I play a game like that? I’m the mayor of this town. I don’t have time for such nonsense. I wouldn’t be good at it if I played, anyhow.”

 

“I think you would like it,” said Emma.

 

“You’ve had it for five minutes.”

 

Ruby came with the food and that was the end of the conversation.

 

\---

 

Henry was checking his phone a week later as he when he discovered that someone else had taken over Granny’s diner.

 

“What?!” He stopped walking and stared at his phone in shock.

 

“You okay, kid?” Emma asked. They were going to Granny’s to get some housewarming dessert for the weekly-but-we-act-like-it’s-always-an-accident dinner at Regina’s before Henry was dropped off for the week. Henry said Mom probably wouldn’t appreciate Emma bringing foreign food into the house (why do so when her cooking was heaven on earth?) but Emma didn’t like to go empty handed.

 

“Someone took my gym! Oh my god, and it’s someone that’s _Valor_.”

 

“Valor?”

 

“The Pokemon Go teams! I’m Mystic, which, by the way, is the _best_ team. Don’t you know the teams? You’re level six, right? You should’ve chosen a team by now.”

 

“Oh, yeah!” Emma whipped out her phone and quickly loaded the game, leading Henry to the edge of the sidewalk so people could pass by. “I think I chose Instinct.”

 

“Instinct?” Henry asked. “That’s like… the worst team. Your leader is practically an egg in human form.” He looked over at her pokedex. “Also, why do you have so many Weedles? They suck.”

 

“I like yellow,” Emma insisted, her face becoming pouty. “And Weedles are cute. I give them a home. They’re like my little army.”

 

Henry rolled his eyes and started to walk the pathway for Granny’s. “You know, the puppy dog face may work on my mom, but I use the same one, so I’m numb to it. Let’s go get that mediocre dessert.”

 

“Hey! The dessert is really good, not medioc-- wait, that face works on your mom?”

 

While Emma chatted up Ruby and took three times longer ordering cupcakes than necessary, Henry rechecked the gym to see who had defeated him.

 

“A _Vaporeon_?” Henry huffed, his voice a whisper. That was a starter Pokemon, practically, only evolved! Rosemary did not deserve to be replaced with a Vaporeon. She was much better, and much rarer.

 

Whoever user “EquestrianLover458” was, he was going to kick their ass.

 

\---

 

When Emma and Henry came to the Mills Mansion with a pack of Granny’s cupcakes, Regina glared at the box.

 

“Do you really think I would let that much artificial sugar into my house?” she asked, her voice curt.

 

Emma gave her the puppy eyes. “They’re cupcakes! Who doesn’t love cupcakes?”

 

Regina sighed, and turned around, walking back into her house, giving no answer. Emma looked at Henry, her mouth formed in an ‘o’, and Henry raised his eyebrows as if to say _I told you so_.

 

In fact, he vocalized it. He made sure to make his voice carry so Regina would hear it. “Told you Mom can’t say no to you.”

 

Regina turned around and gave Henry a steely glare. He grinned, and rushed in, slipping his shoes off near the door, and Emma doing the same. Regina smirked, heading to the kitchen.

 

“You can put the cupcakes in the fridge,” she supplied, and Emma started walking in that direction to do so.

 

“What’s for dinner tonight?” Emma asked.

 

“Spaghetti.”

 

Emma cheered and lifted her hands up in celebration.

 

“Ma! _Put the box of cupcakes down._ I don’t want mine to be mushed.”

 

Emma slowly put the box in the fridge after bringing it down, her face tinged. “They’re cupcakes, kid. If they’re a little beat up, it doesn’t matter.”

 

Henry harrumphed.

 

The dinner went as expected. Emma had _three_ helpings, and Henry sometimes wonders what her true love is: Mom or Mom’s cooking.

 

He’s sure Emma would admit to only the latter.

 

Afterwards, Emma insisted on watching a movie, despite the time, so Regina complied (he’s pretty sure Emma could say “I want to stare at the blank wall in the living room for the next three hours” and Regina would enjoy it just as much, he’s learned she doesn’t care what she does as long as it’s who she wants to be with), and stuck _Practical Magic_ into the DVD player.

 

“You’ve watched this? What with all the probably incorrect magic and stuff,” Emma said, getting herself comfortable on the couch. Regina sat next to her, their sides touching.

 

Henry’s sitting alone on the Ottoman, because he likes his fort of blankets and pillows, and it’s too much for snuggling.

 

(Because that’s what his moms are doing. Because they’re _disgusting_ and act like a couple but won’t admit their feelings to each other.)

 

“That’s why I like it,” mused Regina. “It’s not real. No one can fall in love that easily.”

 

“You never know,” Emma whispered. Regina looked at her, an emotion in her eye that was obviously there, but hidden enough to be undiscerned. Emma cleared her throat. “Like my parents. They fell in love easily.”

 

Regina turned back to the screen, her lip twitching. “Debatable. Get your feet off the coffee table.”

 

“How am I supposed to be comfortable?” she whined.

 

“I may ‘never say no to you’, as our son describes, but I draw the line at feet on the coffee table. You can lay down on the couch, if you like. I don’t bite.”

 

Emma snorts, and doesn’t say anything, but unlike putting her feet on Regina’s lap like Regina thought she would, she lays her head in Regina’s lap.

 

Fifteen minutes into the movie, Emma got onto Henry for being on his phone. “We’re watching a movie.”

 

“I know, I just… Someone took my gym and it’s hard to power up my Snorlax when it’s hard to get candy! If I don’t check periodically I may miss catching one to gain more candy.” Henry spinned his screen around, his avatar walking in a circle.

 

“Henry, I understand you want to defeat the Valor user who took your gym, but right now, we’re having family time.” Regina paused the movie, giving her son a look. She stopped threading her fingers through Emma’s hair, which caused Emma to look at Henry forlornly.

 

Except Henry narrowed his eyes. “I never mentioned it was Team Valor that took over the gym.”

 

Regina blanched. “You talked about it at dinner.”

 

“No he didn’t, I only remember him mentioning it as we were getting the cupcakes,” Emma mused. She glanced up at Regina. “How did you know the team of the person who took the gym thing?”

 

“Mom,” said Henry. “I wanna see your Pokemon Go app.”

 

“No.” Regina and Emma both caught sight of Regina’s phone sitting on the coffee table. There’s a minute of stillness, and then they both reached for it. Emma poked Regina in the side and Regina screeched, jumping, and as Emma rolled off the couch and onto the floor, she grabbed Regina’s phone and quickly scooted to where Henry was.

 

Regina crossed her arms.

 

“I’m glad you let me program my thumb into your phone so I wouldn’t have to guess the password,” Emma said, giddily, as she unlocked Regina’s phone and went into the Pokemon Go app.

 

Regina mumbled something about “for emergencies _only_ ” while Henry said, “It’s my birthday, same as yours.”

 

“Oh. Nice, Regina.” Emma said as she waited for the app to load. “Aha! You have a user! That’s why you knew the gym was taken!”

 

“So I dabbled. I was curious! That’s where it ended. Give me my phone back.” Regina started to get up to retrieve her belongings when Henry quickly tapped the avatar’s close up to view Regina’s profile.

 

Henry gasped. “ _You’re_ EquestrianLover458?”

 

Regina looked at the clock sitting on the mantle instead of answering Henry’s rhetorical question. It was 10:04 P.M.

 

“You took my gym! Valor scum!”

 

Regina pursed her lips. “I didn’t try to. I didn’t think I’d defeat you, and I couldn’t take it back once I was done. You can defeat me and take your rightful place back. Also, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t call Valor _scum_ , thank you. I’m still your mother.”

 

Henry pouted. “I already tried defeating you.”

 

“I truly am sorry.”

 

“I should’ve known it was you, too!” Henry threw his arms in the air dramatically. “You love horses. You used to ride them all the time when you were little.”

 

“You were a horse girl?” Emma turned around and looked at Regina, surprised.

 

Regina’s cheeks warmed, and she tucked a stray piece of hair to hide it. “I tried to choose something that wouldn’t make most people think of me.”

 

“I think you did a good job,” Emma said, and Regina smiled back. (It’s the same way she smiles at Henry when he tells her he loves her.)

 

“I just realized it’s after 10 P.M. Henry, you still have school in the morning. Would you still like to watch the movie?” Regina asked.

 

“I don’t really,” sighed Henry. “I’m tired, and I have a math quiz tomorrow.”

 

Regina glared at him. “And you failed to mention this _because…_?”

 

Henry realized his mistake and quickly got up, hugged his mom, and kissed her on the cheek. “Love you, night!” he rushed out, running and barrelling up the stairs.

 

“He’s so dramatic,” Regina said.

 

Emma got up, rotating her shoulders. She started in the direction of the front door and turned her head so she could look at Regina. “Yeah, he sure is. But he’s a teenage boy; what can you expect? Anyway, tonight was nice.”

 

“You’re leaving?” Regina scooted over on the couch. “There’s still room.”

 

“Oh,” said Emma. “You still want me?”

 

“Emma, I never _don’t_ want you. Sit down. We can finish the movie together.”

 

Emma sat down next to her, and Regina cradled Emma’s head, slowly moving her back into the position they had been in before.

 

“You know,” Emma said. “I’m team Instinct.”

 

“Hmm,” Regina contemplated, her fingers running over Emma’s scalp. Emma preened. “I think it fits.”

 

“You think I have good instincts?”

 

“I do.”

 

When the movie was over, and Emma had no more excuses to stay, they stand at the door to say their goodbyes, bodies only several inches from each other.

 

“You should come over more often,” said Regina, her voice laden with caution. “I think… Henry would enjoy it.”

 

“Just Henry?” Emma smirked, her head cocking, giving Regina a once-over with her eyes.

 

“No,” Regina admitted, and her eyes skirted over Emma’s lips. “Not just Henry.”

 

They looked at each other for several silent, loaded seconds before Emma cupped Regina’s cheek, and kissed her straight on the lips. Regina accepted it immediately, kissing back, and her hands instinctively grabbed the ends of Emma’s unzipped hoodie.

 

It’s not a long kiss, but it’s not a short one, either. Emma ended it, and Regina stared at her in wonder, her breath hot, her eyes wide. Emma looked the same.

 

“What was that?” Regina wondered.

  
Emma gave her a toothy grin. “Instincts.”

**Author's Note:**

> look, i'm not saying you need to believe in omens, but i caught a bulbasaur halfway through writing this. i obviously named him metallica.  
> i'm swanmills on tumblr and swonmills on twitter if you want to contact me! :)


End file.
